Since I started traveling around the world in September 2014, a lot of people have asked me how I’m financially able to travel for so long and whether or not I get tired of constantly traveling. In addition to saving tons of money on airfare by travel hacking my way to earning thousands of frequent flier miles, I also spend a fraction of the money other tourists do on accommodation.
I don’t get tired of traveling because housesitting and couchsurfing have allowed me to deviate the norm from my travel routine—and at little to no cost. The only thing I end up spending is time; time doing the things I do at home, like watching movies, cooking food, and hanging out with friends. The difference is I’m hanging out in a totally new place with new friends—and sometimes their pets!
There are lots of ways to get around New Zealand. So far I’ve only really talked about traveling with other travelers who have bought a car, buying one yourself, or renting a car. But there’s another way: Hitching a ride with a local! Some travelers search for ride shares around New Zealand using online listings like Carpoolnz or Catchalift. I have tried this before without much success. Hitch hiking better suits the spontaneity of the on-the-go travel lifestyle and it can be a safe alternative if done cautiously.
The best part is the potential to connect with friendly locals. For example, I was lucky enough to get a ride from a few locals on my way to Christchurch for my second house-sit. Even better, they were not only locals but Maori descendants—the native people of New Zealand. I love talking to and hanging out with all kiwis, but these are a special group of people who have a culture all their own from a time long before Europeans arrived on the shores.
The Arahura was late. I had already been waiting in the terminal for over 4 hours. I was hungry and eager to board the ferry which would bring me 3 hours across the Cook Strait to the port town of Picton on the South Island. I had to make it to the South Island tonight. The Crakers were expecting me to arrive in Christchurch tomorrow. I was a stranger to them—a solo female traveler whom they were entrusting with their pets, home, and vehicle for a week while they took a trip to Australia.
For the first time in weeks, I was without the company of other travelers. I was ready to make my own way from one island to the other. Little did I know, the experience getting there would be yet another example of the benefits of solo travel: Doors otherwise closed suddenly open.
“Want to come with us to Raglan for New Years?” Jenny, my couchsurf host, asked me after less than 24 hours into staying with her and her two roommates. A couple, Calle, a Swedish guy and Mahlia, a French Canadian girl, are roommates with Jenny who is from Massachusetts. All of them have been on working holiday here in New Zealand for several months. They live together in their 3-bedroom apartment in the city center of Wellington. I had just finished a week-long housesit in Karori where I hiked and played with a kiwi family’s puppy over the holidays. Now I was trying to figure out what I would do before heading to the South Island in the New Year.
One night of playing Cards Against Humanity with these three roomies and we were quickly bonded. They reminded me of my friends back home. “Sure. I’d love to spend New Years with you guys.” I told Jenny. We left on Wednesday to make the 6+ hour drive up North to the West Coast beach town called Raglan. I had missed it on my previous two road trips around the North Island, but I heard it was a laid-back hippie town where surfers and skaters like to hang. We were just hoping the weather would hold out enough to camp, enjoy fireworks, and swim at the beach.
The time has come to reveal what I have really been up to here in New Zealand. When people ask me, I have to admit to them I had never heard of New Zealand until I saw the opening shots of the Fellowship of the Ring (FOTR) and asked, with wonder, “Where is this place?!” Landing in the “middle of Middle Earth” (as Wellington airport and the Te Papa museum reminds its visitors) was 14 years in the making for me. I had dreamed of coming to this country since I was a teenager and finally, here I was.
I didn’t want all of my time here to be about the Lord of the Rings (LOTR), but I certainly was not going to pass up the chance to check out as many film locations as possible. Inevitably, I ended up nerding out all over the place. From hiding from a Black Rider in Mt. Victoria Park to walking barefoot through Hobbiton on the Alexander family farm, here are the locations I visited on the North Island.
Thinking about flying into Auckland near the top of New Zealand’s North Island? Only have a short amount of time to spend traveling New Zealand? Maybe you’re flying out of Wellington or from somewhere on the South Island and need to plan out your itinerary to get you there from Auckland. You deserve to see awesome things no matter how much or how little time you have!
Luckily, my best friend and I did all of the following (and more!) on a road trip from Auckland to Wellington in just 10 days. It’s perfect for someone looking to get a good taste of New Zealand on a time budget. Included are some tourist favorites as well as some spots requiring a bit of deviation.
Tall peaks and steep valleys covered in native plants and trees with huge rocky outcrops sticking up out of forested mounds stretched from either side of the winding highway 25. I could see the Bay of Plenty on the Pacific Ocean running along the horizon ahead. We had made it from the West Coast Taranaki region to the Coromandel Peninsula. Famous for its beaches and ecotourism, the Coromandel is a popular vacation spot for kiwi locals and foreign tourists.
Today, we had driven all day to make it to Hot Water Beach where visitors dig holes in the sand which fill with thermal water from hot springs underneath. Tomorrow we would find an overnight hike to do in the steep inland tropical forest. With nowhere to camp for free on the Coromandel itself, we ended up pitching tents just south of the Coromandel on district land with one of the most unique and hilarious public toilets I’ve ever encountered.
I can hardly believe it—I have been traveling now for half a year! I left on September 1st for Iceland for 10 days, continued on through Germany for 6 weeks, Thailand for 1 month, and I’ve been traveling around New Zealand now for over 3 months. Over the last month, I’ve had the chance to travel with two people whom I met during my travels: Carolina from Northern Sweden whom I met in Iceland and Jonathan from Napier, New Zealand whom I met through Samart in Chiang Mai, Thailand.
Traveling separately with both of them, I’ve had all kinds of new experiences and seen some awesome sights in New Zealand’s South Island and North Island. Currently, I am with Jonathan traveling Northland. There’s hardly any cell phone service let alone Wi-Fi up here which explains the tardiness of this post! But I’m really looking forward to sharing all of my adventures with you in detail over the coming weeks since I'll be slowing down a bit in my travels. I plan to start living and working here in New Zealand! A different kind of travel but all a part of deviating!
